Pelican Shores Resident finds Invasive Raccoon on Property

David Ralph, Pelican Shores Resident, set a trap on his property to capture what he expected to be a feral cat chasing away the usual songbirds. Instead, to his and his wife’s surprise, the trap caught a raccoon. Racoons are non-native but have been spotted in North Abaco for years. This report of one captured in Central Abaco confirms fears that they are spreading south towards Parrot nesting grounds.

David and Kathleen Ralph returned to their Pelican Shores house after a vacation and found that all their native birds and most of their curly tail lizards were gone.

Cats were suspected and a “Have-a-Heart” trap was set on their porch one evening expecting to catch a cat.

However to their surprise, they caught an adult, female raccoon during the night.

BNT was notified and would have taken it, but a friend wanted it to see if he could tame it. The Ralphs gave it to the friend. However, on pulling into his yard with the cage hidden in the back of his pickup, the friend’s dogs tried to take the truck apart to get into the back.

The animal was then given to a man in Blackwood who understands how to deal with them.

This sighting suggests raccoons are now a more common addition to our native wildlife.

The end of the Pelican Shore peninsula is more than a mile from Abaco’s larger land mass where they might be expected.

Mr. Ralph plans to reset the trap to see what other invasive creatures might get caught.